Arthur Qwak

François Hemen

(b. 25 December 1960, France)

After his education in Decorative Arts, François Hemen, who uses the pseudonym Arthur Qwak, founded the Asylum studios in 1984. Qwak and co-founder Riff Reb's were shortly afterwards joined by fellow artists and writers like Édith, Cromwell, Kisler, Joe Ruffner and Gilles Gonnort. The Asylum team worked among others on animation projects, like the cartoon series 'Les Mondes Engloutis'.

In 1987, Qwak started his comic series 'Le Soleil des Loups', along with writers Ralph and Gonnort. At the same time, Qwak assisted on the storyboards for two 'Astérix' movies. In 1988, he joined the magazine Circus, where he created the series 'Le Kid'. The adventures of this witty rat also appeared in the magazines Houbiiii! and Racaille. In the 1990s, while still working on his saga 'Le Soleil des Loups', Qwak wrote 'Les Mémoires d'un Incapable' for artist Cazaux.